The American Family — For the Most Part — Still Has Two Parents

The majority of children in America — two out of every three kids — live in married-couple households, according to the KIDS COUNT Data Center. The nation’s remaining 25 million children live in single-parent families, with three out of every four of these kids growing up in mother-only households.

At the state level, Utah has the highest incidence of children living in married-couple households, (81%) and Mississippi has the lowest (54%).

Paying attention to parental presence at the household level is important, since single parents generally have fewer resources to put toward their family compared to their married-couple counterparts. Supports like child care assistance; family leave and paid time off are vital and can help single parents care for themselves and their children in basic ways.